In added time, Antonee Robinson set off for a gallop down the Craven Cottage wing, easily vaulting a couple of half-hearted Spurs challenges as he went, the crowd cooing in delight. On his way, he sprinted past Ange Postecoglou, the Tottenham manager, standing with his arms crossed, looking bemused. It was a moment that summed up the afternoon: Fulham in complete authority, Tottenham a woeful combination of the lacklustre and imprecise, a team seemingly without a plan.
Not that many in the Spurs section were there to see it. Most had turned on their heels and headed for the exits after Ryan Sessegnon, the prodigal Fulham youth product whose big-money move to Spurs had been largely spent in the treatment room, scored within less than a minute of coming on as a late substitute for the home side. Clearly knowing exactly what to do given he had been witness to so many Spurs training sessions, he latched on to Bernd Leno’s long ball, outmuscled and outmanoeuvred Ben Davies, before arcing a glorious shot beyond Guglielmo Vicario. “He left cos you’re s---,” boomed the home crowd, as the goalscorer seemed to shed a tear or two in an emotional non-celebration. It was hard to argue they may have had a point.
“It’s been a difficult campaign for sure,” said Postecoglou of yet another Tottenham setback. “But I feel we’ve lost too many games that we should have got stuff out of, and this was one of those games.”
In truth, this was Spurs’s season in microcosm: reduced by injury, they simply were not very good. Without the injured Dejan Kulusevski and with James Maddison for some reason left on the bench for most of the game, what they lacked was neither industry nor effort. It was purpose and precision. Too often passing moves would break down by poorly executed delivery. Or in the case of Yves Bissouma, passing the ball directly into touch.
That said, for much of the action, Fulham found them hard to break down. Archie Gray, his call-up for the England U21s presumably not a subject to be raised over the dinner table with his great-uncle Eddie, excelled in the holding-midfield position. His covering and industry meant Spurs were more resolute in defence than they had been for some time.
Fulham huffed and puffed but, for more than 75 minutes, simply could not find a way through. This was Fulham manager Marco Silva’s 200th Premier League game. And his prevailing sense that his ambition is being forever thwarted by the failures of the officials will not have been improved by two clear instances in the first half when the referee missed fouls. First there was what seemed a penalty when Raul Jimenez was clearly nudged in the back by Djed Spence going for Alex Iwobi’s cross. Then, when Willian was agriculturally upended by Cristian Romero on the edge of the Spurs box, no free-kick was forthcoming.
With little to cheer from their own team’s efforts, Spurs fans enjoyed themselves booing the sizeable ex-Arsenal contingent in the Fulham side. It was that kind of afternoon: wallow in the negative. Postecoglou attempted to inject some vigour into his sleepwalking side by sending on Son Heung-min after half-time. Not that it seemed to change the landscape. Nor did the eventual introduction of Maddison, whose one contribution was a lovely chested pass to Dominic Solanke, who scooped his shot over the bar.
Even so, for a brief moment it seemed as if Spurs might do enough to secure their first goalless draw in 109 Premier League outings. But even that limited benchmark was beyond them. Eventually, Fulham found a way through. And it was a goal that owed everything to their collective persistence. Robinson slid in to win the ball when Spurs should have cleared, he played in Willian, whose pass to Andreas Pereira was perfectly steered on into the path of substitute Rodrigo Muniz. From just by the penalty spot, the striker slid the ball into the corner of the net.
Thereafter it was clear what was going to happen. And it did not involve a Spurs comeback. Instead Fulham, buoyed by an effervescent home support, piled forward. The second goal was inevitable and pushed them up to eighth place in the league. That it came from a player who had been for so long thwarted by injury, who had not scored for his home team in eight years, made it all the more delightful a conclusion for those of a Fulham persuasion.
